


a glimpse of light

by violetwreaths



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Soft and warm hopefully, Wherein Jess started at the arc in s2, i ask you to roll w it tbh lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 07:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19389268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetwreaths/pseuds/violetwreaths
Summary: four different moments, four different months, two different years and two very different people. there are tears in their universe but when they find themselves together, it's as if the universe herself conspired to give them one shining, perfect love.or; the key moments defining jenny lewis and jess parker's relationship.





	a glimpse of light

**Author's Note:**

> is this one of my more unusual ships? you betcha. is that why i'm creating my own content? absolutely. i hope y'all enjoy this, even though the primeval fandom is a lot quieter these days. i'm still here, a feral primeval stan.
> 
> title from 'joy' by sleeping at last.

_July 2007_

Heart thundering in her chest, Jessica Parker found that she had to skip just a little in her - admittedly, rather ridiculously high - heels in order to keep up with the man leading her towards the main operations room of the building. In truth, she was intimidated by the sheer scale of the place, despite the fact that it seemed rather calm for now. 

She supposed it was only natural. She was fresh out of university - at 18, no less - and had just been hired into a secret government project that apparently centered around dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures making their way into their current time period. She had been shown footage and she believed it. Considering her first class degree in computing programming and technology, it would be a feat if she was fooled by shoddily doctored videos. No, this was the real deal. Maybe that was what scared her. 

The second she set foot in the main hub, her worries evaporated. The expanse of advanced technology surrounding her took her breath away. She had landed the job of a lifetime here. 

“Our current computer expert, if you can call him that, is currently out in the field but if you’d be willing to wait here for a little while, we expect them back any moment,” the man, Leek, said. Jess nodded eagerly which seemed to suffice for him as he soon left her to explore the main room. Slowly, Jess began to walk around the space, trailing her fingertips across the pieces of equipment gently. She wasn’t entirely sure what everything did but, judging from the setup and the familiar lines of code that occasionally flickered across the screen, she would guess that it was some kind of tracker or detector, although it didn’t look like it was functional yet. Maybe they’d let her help. The thought of getting to actually do something practical immediately perked her up and she sidled a little closer to peer at it. 

“Uh, hey! You can’t be here!” A voice called with a note of panic tingeing the words and Jess spun on her heels precariously, intending to offer the person a warm smile. Instead, she blinked at him in confusion. The man was drenched in...something that Jess didn’t really want to identify. All the same, she took a step away from the half-constructed detector and smiled slightly. 

“Sorry, I’m the new recruit? The tech intern. Jess Parker!” She added after a beat, thinking better of offering her hand to him. 

“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry, we totally forgot what with everything going on and the anomaly this morning and then- sorry. I’m Connor Temple,” the man said, moving to shake her hand. He seemed to realise his error though and lowered it sheepishly. “Sorry again.” 

“It’s okay,” Jess said through a laugh. “You’re the tech expert at the minute, right?” 

“Right! Yes! I’ll take you through all the tech tomorrow morning but I definitely have to drop off my comms and go home for a shower,” he said, grinning at her. Jess nodded and laughed again. 

“Absolutely understandable.” 

“The others will be in soon, they’ll probably want to show you around and get you set up with keycards and the like,” Connor informed her as he moved towards the large desk, tugging a communication earpiece from his ear and placing it on the charging rack before hurrying out, grabbing the arm of a petite blonde as he did. A pair to meet tomorrow then, Jess figured. 

Nerves swirling in her stomach now, Jess lifted her gaze to the other three members of the team trailing into the room, all looking a little bit worse for wear. She had been told that Cutter, presumably the more rugged man in the middle of the trio, was their leader but if she was entirely honest, Jess couldn’t tear her gaze from the woman on his right. 

She was beautiful, in a sort of terrifying and vaguely intimidating way. She was carrying herself with the confidence of a woman who knew exactly how to get what she wanted, despite the fact that her - bright red and lethally high - stilettos hung from one hand and her hair was disheveled around her shoulders. 

Eventually, she managed to tear her gaze away from the woman and offered as bright a smile as she could muster. “Hi! I don’t know if Lester or Leek said but I’m the new tech intern. Jessica Parker. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

The man in the middle sized her up, tilted his head curiously and frowned. “How old are you, lass?” He asked in a thick Scottish accent. Cutter then. 

“18. I just graduated from university,” Jess answered, drawing herself up to her full height. Not that it made her look much more impressive. 

Something about that had evidently caught the woman’s attention though because her gaze slid over Jess and she began to feel very much like she was under scrutiny. She stepped forward and proffered a hand for Jess to shake, thankfully a lot cleaner than Connor’s had been. “Miss Parker. I’m honoured. I’m Jennifer Lewis, the PR specialist for the ARC. This is Professor Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart,” she said, waving a hand dismissively to the two men beside her. 

“Thanks, Jenny, that was great,” Stephen remarked with a slightly amused smile. “Nice to meet you, Jess.” He added before he and Cutter made their way over to the desk to drop off their earpieces. 

Jenny meanwhile had carefully stepped back into her heels and was offering Jess a small smile. “Has anyone taken you to get security cards sorted?” She asked, suddenly all business. Jess shook her head and Jenny sighed. 

“Leek does nothing of use that I can see around here. Come on, I’ll sort everything out for you,” she said, striding away and leaving Jess scrambling to catch up. She had a feeling Jenny was going to spell trouble for her in this job.

Jess never could resist an older woman in a position of power. 

\----

 _September 2007_

When her phone started to ring in the middle of her own engagement party, the ARC’s contact details flashing insistently, Jenny was almost relieved for reasons she...probably shouldn’t examine too closely. Instead, she excused herself from the, frankly insufferable, conversation with her future mother-in-law and answered quickly. “Jenny Lewis,” she said quickly, already moving to leave. She was pleasantly surprised to hear the new intern’s voice on the line. 

“Miss Lewis, I’m sorry to disturb you but we have an anomaly alert and you’re needed at the ARC,” Jess said, somehow still managing to sound bright, even though Jenny could hear the familiar chaos of the ARC in the background.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, Jess. Thank you,” Jenny murmured before hanging up and making her excuses to the family. It took far longer than she’d like to make her way to the ARC and, by the time she was getting out of her car, Jenny had very much come to the conclusion that perhaps the relief she felt was only partly to do with escaping her future in-laws. Part of it was to do with the fact that she only ever felt truly alive in this ridiculous job. She should have known this place would never let her have anything resembling a normal life, especially when she had seen the rest of the team. 

Sighing, she locked her car and strode into the building, heels clicking insistently even as she threaded her way through the handful of people in the corridor. Her attire did gain a few bemused looks but thankfully, most people were too intimidated to stare for long. 

Naturally, of course, that rule rarely applied to Connor and Cutter who both watched her walk all the way down the ramp and over to them. Jess was nowhere to be seen and Jenny frowned a little in disappointment at that. She had grown fond of the younger woman. Something about her always made an anomaly alert seem like less of a trial.

And as if her day wasn’t already dreary, Cutter had now decided that giving her all of five minutes to change was just too long to wait. Wonderful. She was midway through lecturing him about how if she broke a heel, she would absolutely make him pay for new shoes - although, she hardly cared about the actual shoes. It was the principle of the thing more than anything - when she heard another set of heels clicking behind her. Unlike her own long, confident stride, Jenny recognised it as a quick, almost dainty gait and turned to spot Jess. 

“Good afternoon, Jess,” she said with a warm smile, ignoring how Cutter rolled his eyes.  
Jess blinked at her in surprise, lips slightly parted and seemingly unsure how to proceed.

“I came from my engagement party and Cutter here thinks it’s imprudent of me to go and change,” Jenny explained with a casual wave of her hand. Something flickered across Jess’s face, a brief shadow of what seemed like sadness. How strange. 

“The anomaly has been open a while,” Jess said dubiously and Jenny sighed.

“Yes, I know. I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Jenny hummed. “Right. I’ll be waiting outside,” she declared. 

“You look beautiful, by the way,” Jess said, flushing a pretty rose pink the second the words left her lips. Jenny couldn’t help but think that it was a charming look on the other woman. 

“Thank you, Jess. You always look wonderful,” she said gently in response, watching curiously as the blush on Jess’s cheeks deepened considerably. More than satisfied with that reaction, Jenny turned on her heels and headed for the garages, tugging her hat off as she went. She shook her hair out a little more dramatically than was strictly required and, if she happened to sway her hips just a little more than she would usually, then that was her business and absolutely nothing to do with the woman she was walking away from. 

Somewhere behind her, she was almost certain that Cutter had just compared her to a raptor. She was entirely unsurprised by that. What had surprised her, however, was the soft reply from Jess. 

“Shh. She’s gorgeous.” 

Jess was still speaking but, by that point, Jenny was out of earshot. If she was slightly more amoral, she’d be tempted to check the CCTV and find out exactly what Jess had said. She wasn’t going to do that. 

It didn’t mean she wasn’t tempted. Instead, however, she just leaned against the black SUV and let out a slow breath, twisting her engagement ring around her finger absent-mindedly. In truth, Jenny was thinking about the strange expression that had crossed Jess’s face at the mention of her engagement. She wasn’t exactly the most forthcoming about her personal life at work, Jenny knew that much, but she hadn’t expected a reaction quite like that. Surprise, maybe, but the dark flicker across the younger girl’s face was puzzling to her. 

Her reverie was interrupted by Cutter walking up and unlocking the SUV. “Let’s get going,” he commented brusquely and Jenny sighed, climbing into the car as carefully as she could manage. 

For the most part, the drive over was silent until eventually, Cutter broke it. “The lass likes you, you know?” He said quietly. Jenny glanced over at him, pushing her hair back from her face restlessly, just for something to occupy her hands. 

“Jess? I like her too. She’s an excellent addition to the team and I hope she’ll stay on.” She let out a slow breath, trying to consciously keep the conversation professional. 

“That’s not what I mean, Cla- Jenny.”

She didn’t even mention his slip up with her name. Instead, she slid down in her seat a little and said nothing more. Maybe the expression upon Jess’s face made more sense the longer she thought about it. 

With that whirling around in her head, Jenny found herself coming to a realisation that she really would rather not have had while on the way to deal with a potential creature incursion. Perhaps her desire to get away from her fiance was only tangentially related to the job itself. 

Jenny inhaled sharply and buried that thought deep. Not today’s problem. 

\---- 

_April 2008_

Jenny Lewis had made many bad decisions in her life. Letting her parents control her for so long, letting her fear dictate her choices in so many spheres of her life, staying with a man who hadn’t made her happy for so long, waiting until after the engagement party to call it all off, the list really did go on. However, all of those paled in comparison to her current monumental screw-up. 

The thing was Connor Temple had a face like a kicked puppy sometimes and she was good at pretending but she wasn’t really made of stone. After Abby had asked him to move out for a bit and after his time staying with Becker had been…a struggle, Jenny had to offer to take him in. 

She should have known it was a bad idea the moment he showed up on her doorstep with a pet carrier containing two creatures. Diictodons, he informed her. She wasn’t sure she cared. All the same, she had tried her best to make him comfortable and he seemed grateful enough so she had figured that maybe it would be okay. 

Once again, she had been wrong. She was starting to make a habit of that and she wasn’t sure she was a fan of it. It had started innocently enough. The pair of them had agreed to order takeout since neither of them had the energy to cook and sit on the sofa with whatever awful movie they could find on Hallmark and a bottle of wine. For all intents and purposes, it had seemed like a wonderful plan. 

Had was, of course, the operative word here. As it stood, Jenny Lewis found herself sprawled on her sofa with Connor sprawled at the other end, on a Wednesday night, and both far, far more drunk than they’d like. 

“And Becker just came out in a towel and I just think he has to know that I’m in- that I’m crushing on him so really, I just think that was unfair.” Connor finished, throwing his head back so dramatically that he nearly spilled his entire glass of wine over her floor. Jenny huffed out a sigh and picked up her own glass, taking a long swig.

“You’re not exactly subtle, Connor. Maybe you should tell him,” she mused, looking up at her ceiling as she mulled it over. 

“Only if you tell _her,”_ Connor drawled, suddenly looking very smug. 

“Very funny, Connor. We’re not all having a romantic crisis. Besides, why would you assume I’m into anyone, let alone another woman?” 

“I have eyes, Jenn. Besides, birds of a feather and all that. I don’t think anyone on the team is straight. Except maybe Lester. Although does he count as part of the team? Anyway, my point is you can’t tell me to be honest about my feelings when you’re repressing yours.” He said eventually, glazed eyes sliding over to her. 

“I’m doing no such thing, Connor. I have no feelings. Heart of stone, remember,” Jenny quipped before draining her glass.

“Like any of us actually believe that. You’re all heart, Jenny. You should tell her though. You make her nervous.”

“It’s inappropriate,” Jenny said through gritted teeth, closing her eyes. She didn’t want to be having this conversation. 

“Well, so is me having a thing for Action Man,” he shrugged casually. 

“It’s not the same. You’re, what, two years older than him? That’s nothing. I’m _nine_ years older than her.” Saying it aloud sounded even worse than when she had thought it and Jenny grimaced, throwing her free arm over her eyes. “God, what a mess.” 

“I don’t think she cares,” Connor offered sheepishly and Jenny groaned again. 

“Neither do I which means I have to be responsible about the whole situation. She’d regret it anyway,” Jenny sighed, sitting up and taking Connor’s glass from him so she could pour them both another. 

“I really don’t think she would but hey, here’s to being disasters together,” Connor smiled weakly. Jenny let out a self-deprecating laugh and leaned forward to clink her glass with his. 

“I can drink to that. Fuck feelings,” she proclaimed as she took a long swig. It was almost worth it to see Connor splutter at the curse passing her lips. Almost. 

Getting to work the next morning was a struggle for them both and Jenny was almost certain that the insistent throbbing in her head was only partly related to her hangover. The rest was almost definitely a tension headache. She should never have said anything to Connor about her situation. The minute they had gotten to the ARC she had retreated to her office, citing a load of paperwork she had to get filed. Of course, she had filed everything yesterday so she was ahead of schedule but at least this way she got to panic quietly alone for a while. 

She was half-considering drawing the blinds and seeing if she could squeeze in a tiny nap when a delicate, rhythmic knock sounded at her door. “Come in,” Jenny called. The flash of colour she could see through the glass indicated immediately just who it was outside. Typical. 

“Morning Jenny,” Jess said brightly and if it had been anyone else Jenny would have grimaced at the too-cheerful tone but she could never bring herself to do that with Jess.

“Morning Jess. What can I help with?” She asked, trying not to look as deathly hungover as she felt. 

“I brought those reports from yesterday’s alert - you seemed busy so I chased them up for you,” she hummed, setting a perfectly organised pile of files down on the desk. 

Jenny let out a soft, amused chuckle and managed to summon a real, warm smile for Jess. “You are an angel and I could kiss you right now. Thank you.” The words had left her lips before she had really thought it through but now they were out there, Jenny wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow her whole. 

Jess however just blushed prettily and shrugged her shoulders. “It was nothing,” she whispered faintly before turning to head out. Jenny sat back and watched her go, aware of the soft smile that was curving her lips.

Connor smirked at her from across the room and Jenny groaned, wondering if it was bad form to ‘accidentally’ shred Connor’s report so he’d have to do it all over again. 

\----

 _May 2008_

In her time with the ARC, Jess was almost certain that she had started to become immune to fear. Things that should have been terrifying and overwhelming were just a regular workday to her now, just something else she did at her job. She was almost certain of this. 

That was until she heard Abby’s voice from the room just outside the main operations centre. “Jenny!” Jess’s heart lurched. The ops room had been cleared so they could freeze the creature. Connor had just said as much. Jess took off, ignoring Sarah and Connor’s cries for her to slow down. She had to know what was going on. 

The door flew open under her weight and Jess practically toppled into the room, her hands flying out to grab Abby’s shoulders and steady herself. “What’s going on?” She practically yelled, watching as Jenny attempted to fend off the creature. 

Jess only vaguely registered the explanation. She knew enough. The creature needed heat and the only source left in the room was Jenny. Jess pressed ever closer to the glass, watching in a kind of sick fascination, as though her rapt attention could will Jenny to survive this. The can of liquid nitrogen ran out and Jess winced at the clatter of it hitting the floor as Jenny staggered. “She’s going to freeze to death,” she whispered in horror as the other woman reached out desperately for something to hold onto. 

Jenny was one of the strongest people Jess had ever known but no amount of steel in her core would allow her to survive this. Sure enough, the cold had gotten to her by now and Jenny had been forced to slump on the floor, her body beginning to give in to the brutal temperatures. 

Yet the creature still paced ever closer so there was nothing they could do. Jess wasn’t sure when she had started crying but the tears were hot across her cool cheeks. She cursed softly, scrubbing at her eyes desperately in an attempt to clear her rapidly blurring vision. This wouldn’t be the end for Jenny but if it was, if this was it, she had to see her one last time. 

Rooted in place from fear, Jess could feel her throat tightening with a sob that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to suppress for much longer as she watched the creature stalk towards Jenny’s motionless form. Then the door to the ops room clattered open and Danny charged in. It was enough to break Jess from her frozen position and she lurched forward, moving to join him in the room, only for Abby to catch her around the waist. “Jess, wait!” 

It wasn’t until the creature was definitely dead that Abby released her and Jess was off like a shot, snatching a blanket from Connor and bolting to Jenny’s side, ready to wrap her up in the hopes that they weren’t too late. She was about to reach for the older woman’s hand when she saw it - the infection crawling up across her jaw. They had to wait. 

The few minutes it took for the cold to kill the infection in Jenny’s body were a few of the most excruciating moments in Jess’s life and the moment it cleared, she was there, helping to pull Jenny up and out of the room, even as her hands went numb with the cold. 

The others flurried around Jenny in an attempt to revive her and Jess bowed over her form, clutching at one of her too cold hands and trying to steadfastly ignore the murmurings of how easily they could lose her. 

“She won’t die,” she said quietly but firmly. Jenny couldn’t die. Not now, it wouldn’t be fair. Jess scrunched her eyes closed to prevent more tears falling and gripped Jenny’s hand tighter as if willing her back to them. 

“I’ve got a pulse,” Abby whispered and Jess let out a sob of relief, letting her head drop to rest beside Jenny, even as the adrenaline started to leach from her body, leaving her trembling and tearful. 

A few moments later, Jess felt Jenny withdraw her hand. It hurt but so long as the woman was alive, that was all she could ask for. She was about to raise her head and apologise but then, Jenny surprised her again by gently sliding her fingers through Jess’s hair and stroking the back of her head. “It’s okay,” Jenny’s voice came from above her and Jess let out an involuntary sob. 

“We’ll leave you guys for a minute,” Abby said from somewhere above them and Jess silently thanked the other woman for sensing the situation. Once the door closed firmly behind their team, Jess forced herself to swallow back the rest of the tears, although she couldn’t quite bring herself to raise her head. 

“You scared me, Jenny,” she whispered instead, even as Jenny continued to run her fingers through her hair. 

“I know. I’m sorry,” Jenny said, voice pitched just as lowly. That was ultimately what made Jess lift her head. 

“God no, don’t be sorry. None of this was your fault. I’m just…I was scared you were going to die in there. I was scared you’d die and I’d never get to see you again or speak to you again or tell you anything,” Jess murmured, reaching up to stroke Jenny’s jaw, trying not to grimace at how cold her skin still was to the touch. 

“Jess. I’m tired and I’m going to have to go to the hospital soon so can we just skip the words for now and just kiss me?” Jenny asked, eyes sliding half-closed. Jess stared for a moment before nodding.

“Of course I can,” she whispered, leaning over to slot her mouth over Jenny’s, shivering at the cold before sinking into the slow, languid kiss. It wasn’t how she had dreamt it so many times before but it was Jenny, solid and real and alive, and that was enough. 

She was right. The words could wait for now but Jess knew they would be said soon enough. Their line of work was too dangerous to hold anything back. She saw that now.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to come yell at me on twitter @sapphicvers or in the comments below


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